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Gruffalo girl to strut her stuff on the stage
Gruffalo creator Julia Donaldson is returning to north London for a
sing-along at the Pleasance Theatre, writes Tom Foot
PRETTY much every child by now will know that “there’s no such thing as a Gruffalo!”
That catchphrase from the hugely popular children’s tale, written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler in 1999, is imbedded in the imaginations of children up and down the country.
More than two million copies of the books have been sold. The prize-winning story has also been adapted for Broadway and repeatedly sold out the Royal National Theatre and the Hampstead Theatre during its UK tour.
The miraculous success of the tale of an innocent mouse that trips into a deep, dark wood in search of a hazelnut turned Mrs Donaldson into a celebrity overnight.
So I was surprised to receive a phone call from her in person, rather than a publicist, promoting an exclusive four performances of a “sing-along-with-Donaldson” event at the Pleasance Theatre in Islington .
The show includes a five-piece ensemble and songs from her latest book The Room on the Broom.
There will be book signings and “a guest appearance from the Gruffalo himself,” she reveals.
Mrs Donaldson, who spent the first 18 years of her life in Hampstead, this weekend returns to her old north London stomping ground at the Pleasance Theatre to sing songs she wrote with her husband Malcolm who has taken a year sabbatical from his medical practice to tour the show.
The pair are no strangers to live performance, or romance – they used to busk together in Paris when they were students.
Mrs Donaldson has lived in Glasgow with her husband for 18 years but she was born in Golders Green and lived from an early age in a grand Victorian house in Pilgrim’s Lane, Hampstead.
Living with three generations of her family Mrs Donaldson attended New End primary school in Hampstead and later Camden School for Girls before moving to Bristol to study Drama and French.
Mrs Donaldson fell in love with her husband, a musician and an author, in Paris. She looks back with fond memories at that romantic time and recalls her childhood with the kind of fairytale fancy you would expect from a children’s author.
She remembers a “lucky pink step” outside her Hampstead mansion, the hollow “super tree” in the Heath extension in Preacher’s Hill, treasure hunts for brownies in St Stephen’s Church in Pond Street and forming a “runaway club” with children from Willoughby Road.
She says: “I remember we used to play in the hollow tree between the Heath and Willoughby Road (she is pleased to hear it is still there) and we used to skip over the pink step on the way into our home.
“We formed a ‘running away club’ with the daughters of Mary and John Solomon who lived at the end of the road. Once we met at 6am on the Heath to run away for real but I didn’t go through with it and told my friend’s mum. When the children were found they came in looking at me with daggers in their eyes.”
Donaldson’s interest in drama began at the Ronan Hearts Ballet school in Rosslyn Hill and she graduated to playing the fairy parts alongside Judi Dench and Tom Courtenay in a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Old Vic.
“I had played Antigone in a school play but that was the real breakthrough. I began inviting my friends back for tea to Hampstead to play arabesques – but they were never that interested.
“My real interest developed when I got a part as understudy to the fairies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The fairies kept getting sick which was great for me. At one time I played two fairies at once.”
Mrs Donaldson met Malcolm in Bristol. The pair eloped to Paris and began busking.
She says: “It was great because Malcolm could play all the Beatles songs and from Hair. We made lots of money and fell in love.”
No need for busking now for Donaldson, author of 79 published books stocking primary schools across the country. She has just released a series of 36 songbooks published by the Oxford University Press.
Her Gruffalo story is one of the best selling children’s books of all time. The play The Gruffalo recently sold out the National Theatre, the Hampstead Theatre and has become a stock crowd-puller for theatres in the holiday season.
After the exclusive show at the Pleasance Mrs Donaldson will fly round the world – from Bermuda, New Zealand, Chile and Nepal – promoting the book.
“The Gruffalo idea came from an ancient story about a tiger. But I couldn’t think of anything that rhymed with tiger so I changed it too the Gruffalo and added some predators.”
The Room on the Broom Song Show on at the Pleasance this weekend won plaudits at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
She says: “They were lovely days. It was wonderful to perform every day in front of packed houses. It went really well. That was the pilot and now we are giving it a go in London.”
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